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Karen Sharpe
| birth_place = San Antonio, Texas | series = I Dream of Jeannie | character = Melissa Stone | episodes = two in Season 1 }} Karen Sharpe-Kramer, also known as Karen Sharpe, (born 20 September 1934) appeared in two episodes of I Dream of Jeannie in Season 1, the pilot episode, "The Lady in the Bottle", and "Jeannie and the Marriage Caper", where she played the part of Melissa Stone, the fiancee of Captain Tony Nelson and also the daughter of General Wingard Stone, the base commander on the two episodes. Career A former actress of film and television, Karen appeared on screen from 1952 to 1966. She is the surviving third wife of producer/director Stanley Kramer, to whom she was married from 1966 until his death in 2001. She has since been the caretaker of the Kramer estate and legacy. Karen appeared in many other television series in the 1950s and early 1960s, including CBS's Racket Squad, Lux Video Theatre, Playhouse 90, General Electric Theater, The West Point Story, The Millionaire (in the lead role in "The Anitra Dellano Story"), Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse, Perry Mason, The Smothers Brothers Show, and Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.. She appeared in the CBS westerns, Rawhide, Gunsmoke, Trackdown, The Texan, and Yancy Derringer. She guest starred in David Janssen's Richard Diamond, Private Detective in "Echo of Laughter", one of the last segments of that series aired on CBS before it switched to NBC for its final year. Besides Laramie, Karen also appeared on several other NBC-TV series, including Fireside Theater, Cameo Theatre, Hallmark Hall of Fame, The Ford Television Theatre, Matinee Theater (seven times), The Loretta Young Show, Bonanza, Overland Trail, The Americans, and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Sharpe was cast in several syndicated television series too, including The Range Rider, Death Valley Days, and the American Civil War drama, The Gray Ghost. She appeared on Studio 57, when it was broadcast in 1954 on the former DuMont Television Network. In 1955, she played the role of Clara Bryant Ford in the television film A Story About Henry Ford, based on the automobile mogul, played by Arthur Franz. That same year, she played Martha Custis Washington in the television film, The Courtship of George Washington and Martha Custis, with Marshall Thompson, nine years Sharpe's senior, cast as Washington. Sharpe today Sharpe's last roles on a regular series to date were as Barbara Bosley in The Night of the Flaming Ghost and as Rose Murphy in The Night of the Ready-Made Corpse, both on CBS in 1966 on CBS-TV's The Wild Wild West. She appeared in Jerry Lewis's 1964 film, The Disorderly Orderly, during which time she met Stanley Kramer, who was also directing Ship of Fools on the Paramount Studios lot. They began dating and married on 1 September 1966. She stopped acting to devote full time to her family, including two children, and to serve as assistant to her husband in the film industry. She also became a producer. Since his death after some thirty-five years of marriage, Karen maintains the Stanley Kramer Library. She established the Stanley Kramer Award at the Producer's Guild and the Stanley Kramer Fellowship Award in Directing through the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Both designations honor the works of socially conscious young filmmakers. External links * Category:Actors Category:Guest stars Category:Real People Category:I Dream of Jeannie